by Russell Roper

Created on: December 31, 2010   Last Updated: February 06, 2011

The political arena in the United States of America has caused disagreements for many years. Many here contend that the only two legitimate parties are the Republican and Democratic parties. Should someone appear as a candidate claiming membership to neither of these parties they are automatically considered “troublemakers” whose primary purpose is to disrupt the campaign of one candidate or the other. However, the idea that these candidates are “stealing” votes from the other parties simply shows disregard for legitimacy of that candidate and those Americans that have chose them as their representative.

Based on Webster’s Dictionary, Fourth Edition, the definition of “Steal” is; to take without permission or right. This would mean that the other two parties are claiming to have the rights to your vote. If this is indeed the case, then that would mean the democrats are “stealing“the votes of Republicans, and vice versa. But, as we are all aware, neither party has any right to the vote cast by an American citizen. It is the citizen that holds the rights to their vote to do with as they choose.

This is just one argument against third parties “stealing” votes. Another, even more important, defense of third parties having a justified role in politics is their existence itself. To claim third party candidates have no real political purpose, except to “steal” votes, is to presume they have only come to be during that particular election. This claim simply shows the lack of political knowledge by many American voters.

Alternative parties have been in existence since the founding of this country. While they may not have played major roles in the past, they have gained momentum with each election. The actual party name may have changed, or actually dissolved, but the candidate would assume the title of Independent. This title is typically given to any candidate that is not a member of the Republican or Democratic parties. It is a combination of their Independent status, and lack of voter knowledge, that the two parties use to depict the third party candidate as simply out to “steal” votes. The hope is, by using this label they can convey the Independent as an illegitimate candidate.  

Based on these attitudes, it is that candidates fault if their Republican or Democratic candidate loses. “If they had stayed out of the race my candidate would have gotten those votes and won.” Why should it be anyone other than the candidate themselves who is at fault for losing? After all, if some of those Republicans, or Democrats, had voted the other way then the outcome would have been the same as it was with a third candidate. Unfortunately, most of the political hype is simply to remove blame from their candidate.

The third party candidates have supporters who are just as loyal, passionate, and boisterous as the supporters of the other parties. The last several years has seen an increase in alternate parties, most recently the Tea Party, running for both state and federal seats primarily due to the lack of satisfaction in the actions of the other parties. There have also been growing numbers of Americans defecting to these alternative parties. The reason is simple, they still feel a sense of patriotism, but they also feel separated from their political representative and have no say in matters that affect their daily lives.

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